Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer John Fox discusses the danger of an improperly installed car seat and child injury.
The world saw Prince William effortlessly buckle his newborn son into his infant car seat this past summer, as mothers and fathers around the world watched in disbelief. The prince admitted to CNN that “it wasn’t my first time. I had to practice, I really did — I was terrified it was going to fall off or the door wasn’t going to close properly.” Prince William was right to be concerned about the proper installation of his newborn son’s car seat and child injury.
An improperly installed car seat has caused many a child injury. It is believed to have caused the death of a 3 year old girl in a tragic accident on Wednesday. Police report that that the young girl was in the back of a Pontiac Grand Am when the vehicle crashed head on with an SUV. “The car seat was found to be improperly connected, at this time this is what we believe caused the fatal injuries” stated police. Another 18 month old child, who was in a rear- facing car seat, was treated at a local hospital. The driver, stepfather to one of the children and father to the other, remains hospitalized in critical condition.
To avoid child injury in the event of a car accident, it is important that the car seat is properly installed. In a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children are more likely to suffer from severe car accident-related injured than adults, including fractured bones, neck and shoulder injuries, internal injuries, spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injury.
Parents and adults can protect children from child injury by strictly following particular safety measures, such as the proper installation of car seats in SUVs. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), properly embedding a car seat on a vehicle can significantly decrease a child’s risk of sustaining fatal injuries by up to 71 percent.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration takes the proper installation of a car seat very seriously. In fact, local Child Car Seat Inspection Stations have been set up nationwide, to show you how to correctly install and use a child car seat, free of charge. To maximize all the benefits of using child car seats, visit: www.facebook.com/childpassengersafety or http://twitter.cim/childseatsafety.